NASA legend Dick Gordon, who flew to the moon on Apollo 12 but didn’t step on the surface, has died in California at age 88.
His death Monday was reported in a NASA tweet.
A San Diego stint put him on the path to the moon.
Gordon served with Fighter Squadron 121 at Miramar Naval Air Station as a flight instructor in the F4H and took part in the introduction of that aircraft to the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, said spaceref.com.
“He was also flight safety officer, assistant operations officer, and ground training officer for Fighter Squadron 96 at Miramar,” the site said.
Gordon was command module pilot on Apollo 12 with commander Charles Conrad and lunar module pilot Alan Bean.
“Throughout the 31-hour lunar surface stay by Conrad and Bean, Gordon remained in orbit around the moon on the … Yankee Clipper.”
We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut Dick Gordon, command module pilot on Apollo 12, the 2nd lunar landing: https://t.co/sAwLQKV3MY pic.twitter.com/ef1YjyIczd
— NASA (@NASA) November 7, 2017
Among the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963, he served as backup pilot for Gemini 8. In September 1966, he made his first space flight as pilot of Gemini 11.
Gordon is survived by six children — Carleen, Richard, Lawrence, Thomas, James and Diane from his first wife, Barbara, who died in 2012, said astronautscholarship.org. He has two stepchildren, Traci and Christopher, from his wife, Linda, who died September 2017. He also had five grandchildren: Madison, Sean, Ryan, Lea and David.
